Irene Meets Starla or Drifter Meets Rebel------------------------------Irene is not your normal teenager. You see she has plan to open her own hair style shop in the big city. It's going to take the fashion world by storm and it's going to be called Heroine Hair styles. All the famous female hair styles from books to movies will be on display! It will be a hit! She will be famous!Well, maybe not as soon as she wants since she got fired from her mom's hair salon after her first week. One small misstep on her road to greatness. But you know what her mom just doesn't get it and neither do all those fussy ladies who want latest and greatest hair styles. Mom has a backup job though since she doesn't want Irene sitting around all summer. Her friend has two rambunctious children that need watching while she is at work and with some reassurance from Irene's mother she gets the job. The kids love Irene but, its the kind of job you expect from trying to entertain two pre-teen kids during the long hot summer months.Irene would much rather be talking to her friends about all the exciting things they are doing and she is not, gossiping about the local boys and working on her ideas for Heroine Hairstyles. One fateful day though the kids drag her off to the beach and after a brief misadventure she meets Starla. Starla is everything that Irene is not. She is outspoken, everyone pays attention to her and she doesn't care about what any one thinks. Irene can't help it, she wants to know more about this girl. As Irene gets drawn farther into Starla's version of the world she must confront what she thinks about herself, what her beliefs are, and if she is willing to pay the price of being “noticed”.-This is not the type of book that I normally read, but I picked it up at a thrift shop since the story sounded interesting. I'm glad I did as it mostly skips the simplified / generic stories that most of these books tend to have. In other words it doesn't, mostly, have that after school special tone that I remember a lot of these books having. Irene doesn't have a perfect life, her father passed away when she was young, her mother has gone through a succession of boy friends since she is lonely, and Irene herself is drifting along in a world that never changes. As in life when change is introduced other issues get looked at with a new perspective and Irene has to figure out where she fits into her new world view. This may be a book for teens but I really liked the story and it doesn't have a lot of melodrama and very little violence other than a few descriptions of what happens when mom's boy friend has one of his “fits”. I would recommend this to any one who likes reading coming of age stories set in modern times with a bit of drama and humor thrown in. m.a.c
Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.comIrene has a dream--to one day open a beauty salon specializing in the hairstyles of famous book heroines. You know, Great Women in Literature, like Franny Glass, Shug Avery, Janie from Their Eyes Were Watching God. The only problem is, she's just been fired from her own mother's hair salon. Fired. By her own mother. Clearly, this hairstyling business is going to need a bit of work. But her mother and Judith Prior, owner of a secondhand shop a few doors down from her mom's shop, approach her with a proposition for a summer job-- Judith will pay Irene to babysit her two children, Lainie and Evan, for the summer. Suddenly Irene's plans of drawing more hairstyles in her Heroine Heads notebook, of sunning herself on the beach, are thrown out the window in return for watching two kids. She's relegated herself to a boring summer when she meets Starla, a new lifeguard at Larkin's Pond, and suddenly Irene's days are looking up. Starla is everything that Irene is not--beautiful, outspoken, brazen, and obsessed with boys. As Starla appears to take Irene under her wings, other things begin to fall by the wayside--like Irene's responsibility towards Lainie and Evan, her good sense, and her easygoing nature. MY ALMOST EPIC SUMMER is a quick, entertaining read that will have you both laughing and cringing at the situations Irene finds herself in. Although not as emotionally involved as most of Ms. Griffin's previous releases, this is a great book for summer reading!
What do You think about My Almost Epic Summer (2006)?
Irene is a 14-year old teenager who is determined to be a exclusive hair salon owner. She is apparently stuck in her neighborhood,babysitting little kids during vacation. All her friends seem to be having fun in good places, but for her, things aren't going along as she imagined it would be. After being fired by her own mother as a part-time job, due to her mistakes, she goes to babysit Evan and Lainie. They aren't the most naughtiest kids in the world, but compared to her friends, Irene feels depressed of her un-epic summer. Then she meets Starla(real name Tara)a lifeguard, who is dazzlingly beautiful and who seems perfect.After going through a few incidents, however, Irene figures that people like Starla holds the same problems and have flaws like a normal person. I think this is the theme of this story.
—Anstjfla
Review: Irene’s Mom owns a beauty shops, & ends up leaving Irene on her own a lot. Irene fills up much of her time reading and drawing hairstyles of the literary figures she encounters in the books she reads. The summer she is 14, Irene does not accompany her best friend to camp; she must make do babysitting for a couple of active kids. Trying to ditch the heat, Irene takes her charges to Larkin’s Pond where she can’t escape noticing the gorgeous lifeguard: Starla. (Can you tell that is a made up name?) Irene can’t believe it when Starla acts friendly towards her, but her fascination begins to pale, when Starla steals from the pond store, staffed by “D,” Starla’s ex-boyfriend. When Starla corrals “D” and they show up at Irene’s babysitting job, their visit causes Irene to be distracted for more than a few minutes, and one of the unsupervised kids breaks her arm. All is not lost, “D” shows up at Irene’s house – on his own – and proceeds to give Irene a kiss, proving he is way over Starla & giving Irene something to share with her camp friends. Her summer has not been in vain. Irene is an unforgettable character. Peg Dombek
—Teen
I read My Almost Epic Summer by Adele Griffin and this story is about this teenage girl named Irene who has big dreams for her future. When she grows up she wants to have her own hair salon in LA but in the beginning nothing is going her way. She is now stuck babysitting all summer and ends up meeting this girl Starla who seems to be this perfect girl but is soon found out to be not so perfect. Irene gets to know Starla who she sees as a girl that just wants attention and Drew, Starla’s old boyfriend, and Irene start to like each other. In the end Irene lightens up and realizes to be happy for what she has. My favorite character in this story is Irene because I think all teenage girls can relate to her somehow. She wants her summer to be perfect and she has big dreams. Her family situation is pretty tough and she feels alone. In the beginning Irene says when talking about her best freinds, “But what if, come September,I become the odd one out?”(71) Irene is insecure about who she is and is worried that she won't be good enough to still be friends with the friends she has now. The author I think added this in to her character because a lot of girls are struggling with similar situations. She gets hurt when Starla says something mean about her dream and Irene says, “I want to hate her, but I guess I feel to unnerved-depressed, even. My first stab at a glamorous future has laughed me right back into reality.”(52) She is critized for having this dream of owing a salon. Irene also grows throughout the story and realizes that no ones perfect. I thought this book was alright. I felt like there was nothing super special about it and it was average. What I did like is that Irene's dreams I could connect to the Youngers dream in the play The Raisin in the Sun. Both these stories had a dream that is deferred and then had to be changed. I wish this story had a little more excitement but I would rate it like a 6 out of 10. I would recommend this to young teenage girls and this is a very easy read. Overall I thought My Almost Epic Summer was an alright book.
—Sarah Vail
